


home for the holidays

by orphan_account



Series: random ramvers fics [8]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1990s, Alternate Universe - 1990s, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Memories, Memory Loss, October
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 04:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20847374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "'You', she says, punctuating the word with a kiss to her neck. 'Have been here for hours and you haven’t once asked me about my candy corn stash.' She turns Carol away from her disastrous attempt at a cherry pie and tosses her arms up over shoulders, pulling her in close for a hug. 'What’s up?'Carol rubs her hand up and down Maria's back. She turns her face into her neck and inhales, taking in the scent of pumpkin spice, shea butter, and home.She smells like home.". . .Carol stops by earth to celebrate the holidays with her family.





	home for the holidays

**Author's Note:**

> Y'ALL IT'S FINALLY OCTOBER!  
I literally wrote this like a month ago, and I've been trying so fucking hard to hold off on posting this, but now I don't have to CAUSE IT'S OCTOBER FUCKING FIRST.  
Also, Andromeda is Talos's daughter. She's only in this for a bit, but I don't want y'all to be confused.

She remembers Halloween.

Christmas is a blur, Easter is a gaping hole, and Thanksgiving just makes her recall keeping her elbows off the table and never looking the men in her family in the eye and wondering why the seat where her mother used to sit was never filled after her sixth year.

But Halloween.

Halloween she remembers more than anything.

She remembers dragging a grumpy, older Steve along with her, matching Tinker Bell and Peter Pan outfits despite the other kids’ taunts. She remembers a giant, glittering pumpkin dangling over the center of the first diner she worked at. She remembers kissing Susan Hartwroth on a dare and getting kicked out of her father’s house before the candy bowl had even emptied at just sixteen years old.

But more than anything, she remembers the Halloween of '86, when she pushed the swan masquerade mask up Maria’s face, pulled her in by the neck, and placed a sloppy kiss upon her lips.

She’d been drunk, they both had. But they weren’t drunk the next morning when Carol rolled on top of Maria in their motel room and kissed her like a woman long deprived of water.

Carol doesn’t remember a lot of things. But she remembers Halloween.

And she remembers her family.

. . .

She lands just a few hours after dawn.

She catches Monica just before she has to leave, eats breakfast with her, trades stories, and hugs her before seeing her off on the bus.

"She’s taller", she murmurs, and Maria just smiles, pulls her in for a hug, and kisses her tenderly.

They spend the day indoors, with the windows open to blow in breezes and the stereo set to half its volume. Prince, Stevie Nicks, Minnie Riperton, and Freddie Mercury croon through the house from the morning til well in the afternoon, with both arguing over release dates and quality, 'til Monica rushes back home and tells them they’re old and makes them play the new Destiny’s Child CD.

The hours rush by quickly, and, soon enough, night falls. Talos, Frank, Nick, and Phil crowd into the house, to the living room, where Andromeda and Monica quickly claim the TV and turn to MTV.

They’re dressed as Woody and Buzz from some movie Carol doesnt recognise, but she thinks their costumes are phenomenal and tells them so.

"Seems like just yesterday they hated us for turning from their cartoons", Maria sighs.

Carol scrunches up her face and frowns. "Ugh, we are old.” She says it like it’s a nuisance, but the truth is, whenever she thinks of growing old with Maria, watching Monica grow up, she feels...good. She feels good.

It’s been a good year, all things considered. She’s been home six times in the past cycle, one of which extended into a two week visit. But even still, she can’t help but feel as if she’s missing so much. Monica bought her first training bras just three months ago, called Carol to tell her all about it, and has her first date lined up in a few days. And Maria hasn’t told her anything specific, but Carol knows Maria has had this cough for going on a year now (which she's still adamantly searching the galaxy a cure for). Being here, this time of year, on this day, it helps abate that feeling. But the root of it remains: her family will always be here for her. 

Even when she can’t return the favor.

"I thought I told you that if you’re gonna come back, you need to come back all the way." Maria enters the kitchen, fond smile in place as her eyes take in the pumpkin-themed apron around Carol’s waist. When Caol just looks at her imploringly, Maria rolls her eyes and eases closer into the kitchen. "You", she says, punctuating the word with a kiss to her neck. "Have been here for hours and you haven’t once asked me about my candy corn stash." She turns Carol away from her disastrous attempt at a cherry pie and tosses her arms up over shoulders, pulling her in close for a hug. "What’s up?"

Carol rubs her hand up and down Maria’s back. She turns her face into her neck and inhales, taking in the scent of pumpkin spice, shea butter, and home. 

She smells like home.

"It’s a good arrangement", Maria mutters because neither of them are any good at keeping secrets. "Not the best", she admits, and she looks at her, eyes big and brown and hopeful. "But it’s good." She leans in close, presses their cheeks together, and just stays there. "We’re good."

"If it could be any different", Carol starts, teeth gritted with frustration because she  _ needs _ her to understand this. "If I could just be a normal wife, I-" 

"You can’t." There’s no malice in the words. No bitterness, no hate, no regret. Just truth, just fact. "Nothing about us is normal", Maria says lowly. "Legally, ‘us’ don’t even exist. This...this is just another way hurdle, you know, and we’re getting over it just fine." Carol goes silent. Maria smirks, dips a finger into the pie batter behind her, and dabs it across her nose. Carol snorts, rubs the mush against the skin of Maria’s neck, snickering at the squeal Maria releases in turn. "Not to interrupt you ladies", Nick says, sticking his head into the kitchen. "But Nicki and ‘Meda are ready for their pictures."

A memory flashes to the forefront of Carol’s mind. It’s an earlier one, one of Monica still in diapers. She’s dressed like a penguin and looks about as unimpressed as Carol had been when Frank suggested the costume. It made Maria smile, though, and, afterwards, Carol admitted it was a pretty good costume.

This year, she and Maria take turns with the camera. They don’t get in as many they’d like because the girls start getting impatient, but the ones they do get are pretty good. Once they’ve gone, Carol watches them walk to the end of the street, past a cluster of witches and goblins, to Frank’s pickup.

_ I missed six years of this _ , she thinks before allowing herself to be lead away by Maria.

They wind up on the back porch, away from the remaining guys. Out here, there are candles burning with the scent of pumpkins, glowing low and soft, gentle spirits against the otherwise dark cloak of the landscape.

"I love you", Carol says because she can never say it enough.

Maria smiles, and Carol transports back once more, to the Halloween of '83 when she first saw Maria singing at karaoke night at a Dairy Queen and her heart said to her, "That’s the one". Maria leans in close, sucks the pie batter off her nose, and closes her eyes.

"I love you, too."

. . .

She remembers Halloween.

She remembers feeling whole and happy and loved and surrounded by people who sing and dance and joke about her being a personal nightlight for Monica when she was still scared of the dark.

She remembers her family.


End file.
